Mines, National Academy of Engineering team up to examine impact of climate change on engineered systems

GOLDEN, Colo., Oct. 20, 2010 – A partnership of four research universities (including Colorado School of Mines) a school district and the Boston Museum of Science, led by the National Academy of Engineering, recently received a $1 million National Science Foundation grant for the project "Partnership for Education on Climate Change, Engineered Systems, and Society.”

As one of the key partners, Mines will contribute by developing a test bed for the experimentation and integration of climate change dimensions in engineering curricula associated with water-, energy- and geo-engineered systems.

The award focuses on the impacts of climate change for engineered systems, which remain largely unaddressed in engineering education. The project aims to catalyze and transform engineering education to better understand adaptation and mitigation alternatives when designing, building, using and paying for engineering systems that can adapt to climate change.

This effort will include science museums, K-12 education, undergraduate engineering departments and policy forums, to prepare current and future engineers, policymakers, and the public to meet these challenges.

The Mines team includes faculty members from the Division of Liberal Arts and International Studies (Jason Delborne, Jon Leydens, Juan Lucena and Jen Schneider), the Division of Engineering (Katie Johnson) and the Environmental Science and Engineering Division (Junko Munakata Marr).